Ukiah food waste program hits another snag

A pilot program launched by the City of Ukiah's garbage hauler to recycle food waste from local businesses has attracted very few participants, Council member Mary Anne Landis told the Ukiah City Council Wednesday.

"There's some question about whether there is enough food waste to warrant the program," said Landis, explaining that she and Mayor Doug Crane met with staff members from C&S Waste Solutions, the contractor who hauls the city's garbage, to find out how its pilot food waste program, launched in April, is progressing.

"Only six of the 80 commercial entities that could be participating are," Landis continued, and Crane added that a key reason is that there are some "major producers (of food waste) that already have a path for their food waste," which is hauled outside of the area.

"They want to do further study and find out who would use a food waste program among the residents of Ukiah, so they want to do a survey," Landis said of C&S, adding that the company also plans to hold a workshop to inform the public of the options for, and the costs of, a food waste program.

When the council was considering approving new contracts with C&S in October of 2011, council members asked Julie Price why food waste couldn't be added to yard waste bins immediately.

At the time, Price said her company was "looking at composting food waste, but the problem is finding a location to do it." The company then purchased the former Thomas pear sheds and tried to acquire permits "to consolidate recycling processing operations, establish a green waste composting facility and a pilot commercial food waste composting program (there)."

However, in March Price said the company was unable to get a permit from Mendocino County to compost food in Ukiah, and instead the waste would be trucked to Lakeport.

"We invested in an in-vessel composter and it's been set up in Lake County because we were able to get a permit in Lake County," Price said, describing the composter as "very innovative," with a 40-foot long, insulated tube that rotates. "Since our trucks go over there already, there will be no additional miles on the road.

"We'd love to have it here (in Ukiah), but we had some difficulty with the county getting it permitted," she continued. "In the understanding that we had a time commitment with the city to get the program going, we said we'll put it in Lakeport."

When Council member Benj Thomas asked if the company had given up on composting at its Ukiah facility, Price said: "We've given up on trying to put food waste there. We're going to do green waste only for the time being."

Price said after six months of the commercial pilot, the company will come back to the council with options for implementing a program for Ukiah residents.

In the meantime, for years residents of unincorporated Mendocino County have been adding food waste to their yard waste bins, which are sent to Cold Creek Compost in Potter Valley, which can also take soiled cat litter, pizza boxes and many other items.

"Early next fall we'll be here with a whole list of options -- the pros and cons of multiple ways to do those things," Price said.

"Will it be on time?" Thomas asked.

"It's quite a task, but we'll get it done," Price said.

Landis said Wednesday that the company will now not be reporting back to the council until December.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.